With captain Drew Moor continuing to rehab from ACL surgery, coach Pablo Mastroeni seems to have settled on Marcelo Sarvas and Sam Cronin to share armband duties in the interim.

Both Cronin and Sarvas have captained the Rapids in the club’s first three preseason games against MLS competition, and yesterday Marco Cummings, who covers the Rapids for Mile High Sports Radio and Magazine, tweeted that Mastroeni had settled on the two newly-acquired MLS veterans.

While Drew Moor is still out, #Rapids96 captaincy looks to be a committee between Sarvas/Cronin which I confirmed with Mastroeni. #MLS

When asked back on Feb. 11 who would wear the armband in Moor’s absence, Mastroeni said he hadn’t given it much thought.

“It’s more about making sure we’re tight as a group,” Mastroeni said. “That all the experienced players are taking ownership of the team by the way they carry themselves, by the way they train. And I couldn’t be more happy by the way they’ve done that. Vicente (Sanchez), Marcelo (Sarvas), Sam (Cronin), the guys that were here last year, Nicky Labrocca, (Marc) Burch, so the more experienced players, and I’m probably going to miss a few names, but they’ve done a really exceptional job of leading by example.”

Mastroeni added that “Drew Moor is the guy that will continue to wear the band” once he’s healthy and able to return to action.

Uruguay’s Diego Forlan signs an autograph for a young fan after a team training session on the outskirts of Montevideo, Uruguay, Thursday June 16, 2011. (Matilde Campodonico, The Associated Press)

During the search for an experienced, established striker this offseason, the Colorado Rapids considered Uruguayan goal scorer Diego Forlán — for about a hot second.

“He was a guy that was offered up to us,” said Paul Bravo, Rapids vice president of soccer operations and technical director. “I wouldn’t go beyond that. Everybody gets these players thrown out.”

Forlán, 35, who won the Golden Ball as the top player in the 2010 World Cup in South Africa, is currently playing professionally in Japan for Cerezo Osaka. But Bravo said talks never got serious with the Rapids.

As the Rapids get closer to the start of the 2015 season, they are still hopeful of bringing in a player or two on loan from Arsenal, the English Premier League side also owned by Kroenke Sports & Entertainment.

“We’ve been talking with Arsenal quite a bit,” said Paul Bravo, Rapids’ vice president of soccer operations and technical director. “There’s a few players that we’ve been monitoring. One that’s currently in an injury situation that we were hoping to bring over. There’s another one that we’re considering at this point, but nothing concrete. But we have been in communication with them in hopes that we can maybe secure one or two players.”

Bravo did not reveal which players the Rapids were eyeing.

Last season, Bravo and Rapids president Tim Hinchey traveled to London to meet with Ivan Gazidis, chief executive of Arsenal, to discuss how the clubs could collaborate in a more meaningful way. The possibility of player loans and shared scouting resources were discussed.

As for the likelihood the Rapids will land an Arsenal player on loan this season, Bravo pegged the chances at a coin flip, 50-50.

Hairston played the position Tuesday in training on the turf practice fields at Dick’s Sporting Goods Park, winning balls and at times finding acres of space along the right sideline.

When asked what he sees in Hairston at right back, Rapids head coach Pablo Mastroeni was effusive in his praise of the 20-year-old entering his second season in MLS.

“He’s been exceptional,” Mastroeni said. “He’s a player that’s technically sound, tactically understands the game, understands when to get forward and when to kind of hold, it’s a position he’s willing to learn and grow in.”

“I wish I had a half of what he has,” Mastroeni said. “With a little bit more experience and a better level of comfort from having played in that position, he could be as good as he wants to be. And I’m not talking about in this league, I’m talking about in the world.”

“One is Wes Knight and he’s a player who has MLS experience,” Mastroeni said. “And then we have Ben Newnam who played in the USL last year.”

Knight played for the College of Charleston from 2004-2008. He then signed with Vancouver Whitecaps (then a USL side) from 2009-2010, and stayed with the Whitecaps during their inaugural season in MLS in 2011, making 12 league appearances (10 starts). Knight, 28, is listed at 5-foot-11, 175 pounds. He spent 2012 with San Antonio of the NASL and then moved to Edmonton FC.

A tweet that placed blame on the Rapids front office for the club’s recent struggles apparently did not sit well with team officials and led to the firing last week of beat writer Chris Bianchi, according to e-mails obtained by The Denver Post.

“Say it once, say it again: Front office deserves much more blame than coaching staff,” Bianchi tweeted from his @Rapids_News account on Oct. 7, in a reply to a fan who was voicing his faith in the front office to get the Rapids back on the winning path.

The tweet drew the ire of Rapids’ President Tim Hinchey, who fired off an e-mail to Bianchi demanding an explanation.

The mlssoccer.com beat writer provided a series of emails to The Denver Post that were exchanges with Hinchey. Bianchi defended his opinion that a lack of defensive depth, inaction during the summer transfer window and the decision to part with midfielder Martin Rivero were more to blame for the Rapids’ lengthy winless streak (now at 13 games) than the “growing pains” of first-year coach Pablo Mastroeni.

Orlando City won a draw today over New York City FC and will pick first in the upcoming MLS expansion draft for the 2015 season.

I spoke with Rapids Vice President of Soccer Operations Paul Bravo last week, and he said the Rapids have already begun internal talks on which 11 players the club plans to protect.

Homegrown and Generation Adidas players are automatically protected, so that means Shane O’Neill, Dillon Serna and Davy Amrstrong (homegrown) along with Marlon Hairston (Generation Adidas) will be safe, along with 11 other players, Bravo said.

Colorado Rapids goalkeeper Joe Nasco leaves the field after receiving a red card in the first minute of the game with the Los Angeles Galaxy at StubHub Center on Sept. 5, 2014, in Los Angeles. The Galaxy won 6-0. (Stephen Dunn, Getty Images)

Rapids goalkeeper Joe Nasco is expected to get a shot at redemption this Friday in Utah.

“We’ll more than likely give Nasco another go at it, being that the situation in L.A. was kind of crazy,” Rapids coach Pablo Mastroeni said Tuesday.

Nasco, 30, was unavailable Saturday against Portland as he served a one-game ban after earning the fastest red card in league history, 33 seconds into the Sept. 5 match against Los Angeles Galaxy. The Rapids, playing a man down for virtually the entire contest, went on to lose 6-0. It was the worst loss in team history and extended the club’s losing streak to a franchise worst seven games.

Rapids defender Marvell Wynne, who has been shifted to center back, says he takes the goals the team has allowed “very personally.” (Daniel Petty, The Denver Post)

Rapids’ defender Marvell Wynne, who has been shifted from right back to center back in the wake of injuries, said this week that the Rapids have reviewed the plays they’re getting beat on, and in some cases need to give credit where credit is due.

“I don’t think we are a terrible defense, but we are getting scored on quite a bit, so I feel something needs to change,” Wynne said.

The Rapids have allowed 15 goals in the last five games, all losses. Wynne has occasionally drifted out of position and missed some key tackles that led to goals during that span.

“As a center back, every single goal that goes in you feel like you could have done something to prevent it,” Wynne said. “I take every goal actually very personally. It gets upsetting now.”

Daniel was first introduced to soccer at age 6 while living in Düsseldorf, West Germany. He played youth soccer in West Germany until age 9, and then in Seattle, where he is originally from. He works as the day breaking news editor and also contributes on the Rapids beat.